


Branded

by Michaelssw0rd



Category: A Discovery of Witches (TV)
Genre: (off screen and canon one though), Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Non-Consensual Body Modification, Vampires, Witches
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-11
Updated: 2018-11-11
Packaged: 2019-08-21 22:06:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16585109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Michaelssw0rd/pseuds/Michaelssw0rd
Summary: Days after what happened at La Pierre, Matthew can't sleep. Instead, he watches Diana and the brand on her back and is fascinated and revolted by it in equal parts.





	Branded

**Author's Note:**

> If you can't tell, I am absolutely FASCINATED by the brand on her back too. I have issues. :P 
> 
> (and I still haven't seen the last two episodes so if something happened regarding the mark... well... this is just fanfiction anyway, full of what-ifs and maybes. :D)

Matthew couldn’t sleep.

A part of him was convinced that if he closed his eyes, he would wake up to an empty bed again. That if he let Diana out of sight even for a minute, she will be taken away from him, and this time he wouldn’t be able to get her back.

So Matthew lay in bed, propped up against the pillow and watched the rise and fall of Diana’s back. In some ways, it was more relaxing that sleep could ever be. This way, he knew Diana was alive, and safe, and _beside him_.

Diana was lying on her stomach, curled towards him. Early morning light streamed in through the windows, illuminating her face, innocent and vulnerable in sleep. She looked fragile. Yet, the barely healed wounds on her face, and the brand on her back was a testament of how strong she was. How unbreakable.

Once again, Matthew’s eyes landed on the burn on Diana’s back. The _brand_. A crescent and a star. His insignia marring the otherwise unblemished skin of her back. The flesh was an angry red even now, days later, raised and blotchy.

It turned Matthew’s stomach and fascinated him in equal parts.

He had taken care not to mention it, not to touch it, hell… to not even look at it. Not while Diana was awake. He didn’t want to remind her of what happened in La Pierre. He didn’t want her to relive it. But in the quiet and vulnerable moments like this one, he couldn’t help his eyes from lingering on the scar. Couldn’t help his fingers from hovering over it.

“It’s okay to like it.”

Matthew jerked his hand back like it was burned, curling it into the fist. Cautiously, he looked at Diana face, who was watching him serenely. His distress must have shown on his face because she raised her hand and gently stroked Matthew’s chest, patting above his heart… soothing him. “Hey. It’s okay.”

Matthew clenched his jaw tightly, and closed his eyes for a moment. He shook his head, and when he spoke, his words were harsh. “It’s not,” he swallowed, looking away from her. “It is anything but okay, Diana.”

Diana’s hand reached up to his cheek, turning it towards herself. He kept his eyes closed, unable to meet her gaze.

“Look at me.” Matthew had always been helpless against her soft entreaties. He opened his eyes, and was met with a smile. “I like it.”

Matthew jerked back, his eyes widening in horror. “Diana,” his voice was a croak. “Diana, no. You can’t.” Diana didn’t say anything. She just kept looking at him patiently, waiting for him to digest that. “She _branded_ you.”

“As yours,” Diana said, as if it made absolute sense. “She branded me as _yours_ , Matthew. How can I possibly hate that?”

“I hate it.” Matthew’s voice was full of venom. It wasn’t a lie. He hated the brand on Diana’s back. And he hated it even more because he liked seeing it. Liked Diana being marked as his in such a permanent way.

“For what it’s worth, it doesn’t make me any less or more, _yours_. We are bound together, Matthew, in ways that go beyond our physical bodies. But if I am to carry a mark for the rest of my life, I am glad that it’s yours.”

“Diana…” Matthew watched her helplessly; his fearless lioness, who wouldn’t give the ones who hurt her power over her, who would not only wear the scars they gave her, but would _own them_ , and wear them proudly.

“Matthew,” her voice was soft and teasing, like it had been before when she had seduced him into bed. “I would appreciate it if you would stop treating me like a fragile flower now.” She stroked her fingers over Matthew’s clenched fist. When he unclenched her fingers, she raised his hand and placed it on her back. “You’re allowed to like it. In fact, I would very much prefer that you do.”

Matthew splayed his fingers over her back, his index touching the edge of the raised crescent. His sluggish heart beat awfully loud as he slowly traced the edge of it.

Diana’s soft sigh was nearly his undoing.

He moved without ever making a conscious decision of doing so. A moment later, he found himself with his lips pressed to the raised skin of Diana’s back. It burned him, as if branding him in turn.

“I understand now,” he spoke with his lips hovering above the marks, his sight blurring due to the proximity of it. The puff of breath against her skin made Diana shiver. “I understand what you said about wanting to hunt down anyone who hurt me. If you hadn’t made me promise… I don’t know what I would’ve done.”

He kissed the scar again, before coming back up and wrapping Diana in his arms, pressing his lips to her hair. She didn’t say anything, and snuggled closer to him, as if understanding that he needed her proximity to feel calmer.

It had been like that since she came back. Diana sat with a quiet strength and walked with iron in her spine, while Matthew felt like he was slowly crumbling where he stood. Satu may have been unsuccessful in crushing Diana’s spirit, but she very nearly destroyed _him_. Matthew knew he would never be able to get over how it felt to have woken up and realize she was gone; how that knowledge drove him to insanity; how the only thing that mattered then, the only thing that mattered any more, was Diana.

She knew that. He knew that she knew that. That was the only reason she let him coddle her, let him wrap her in blankets and in his arms. She was giving him comfort by letting him comfort her. She was making him feel safer by letting him hover around her constantly, keeping her in sight.

Matthew realized all this, and was grateful for the fact she was indulging him.

“I promise you,” he spoke into Diana’s hair, his hands stroking her back, no longer avoiding the scarred skin. “No one will ever take you away from me again; I won’t let anyone harm you again. You have my protection, and that of the knights of Lazarus.”

He knew he was saying all this for his own reassurance, more than hers. In all the time he had known her, she had never been one to give in to fear.

Diana kissed Matthew’s chest, before slowly pulling away and looking at him. “I don’t need your protection, Matthew.”

Despite all she had been through, the smile on her lips was still gentle, and the tone of her voice was full of amusement.

Matthew brushed stray hair away from her face, tucking then behind her ear. “What do you need then?”

She leaned up and pressed her lips to his softly. “You.”

Matthew kissed her back just as softly, before pressing their foreheads together. “You have me, Diana. All of me. You have etched yourself into my soul deeper and more permanently than that mark on your skin. I am yours too.”

The morning light made the moisture in Diana’s eyes glitter. She closed her eyes and tucked her face into Matthew’s neck. “Then I don’t need anything else,” she said, her voice roughened by the same emotions that had colored Matthew’s voice.

They lay there for a few moments, before Diana spoke again. “Sleep, Matthew. Even vampires must need _some_ sleep. I know you haven’t slept since what happened at La Pierre.” When Matthew stiffened, Diana’s slow strokes to his back gentled him. “I will be here when you wake up. I promise.”

A part of Matthew’s mind wanted to refuse, wanted to stay awake and watch her, but then Diana said a quiet, _please_ , and all Matthew could do was nod, and hug her closer. They stayed like that for long moments, neither speaking, just lying there pressed close together as the sun slowly illuminated the room. It was the rhythmic movement of her breathing against him that slowly, eventually, that helped settle his frayed nerves.

He fell asleep like that, surrounded by her warmth, finally believing what she had said to him before. That they were bound together. By magic, and by fate, and more importantly _by choice_ , despite the rage of the witches and the malice of the vampires and the rules of an old, egocentric covenant that tried to separate the two of them.

They were bound together by love.

Forever.

**Author's Note:**

> This is SOOOO sappy but this pairing brings out all my sap. Let me know if you guys liked it <3.


End file.
